My work at HMC has taken me to St. Petersburg, FL, for a two-day meeting having to do with one of the many National Science Foundation (NSF) grants that HMC faculty have. This particular grant is overseen by a team of faculty members in our Computer Science department, and I serve as the "evaluator" for the program. In simple terms, that means I work with the faculty to come up with ways to make sure that the goals of their funded project are actually being met.
Each year, those of us who have earned the lofty title of "evaluator" for this particular NSF project gather to discuss various and sundry things. I will confess that, being somewhat of an NSF rookie, the topics discussed are often beyond me. They go "whoosh!" right over my head.
Last year, the evaluator's meeting was in Arlington, VA, and I had to catch a red eye out of LAX to get to the meeting, as there was no way on earth that I was going to miss Elizabeth's birthday party the day before.
This year, we're being treated to the somewhat warmer climes of Florida. I am holed up at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel, somewhere along the harbor. This was not my original destination, however. The Hilton at which I had reservations kindly informed me that they were overbooked, but that they had "good news and great news" for me: my first night's reservation was on the house, and that for the first night I'd be staying at the lovely, historic, charming (read: OLD) Vinoy Hotel. This, of course, was dropped on my after finally figuring out that the first Hilton Hotel I stumbled upon in St. Petersburg was not the right one; curse you, Hertz Rent-a-Car "Never Lost" system!
I am sure as you can see from the photo (above) that any resemblance between the Renaissance Vinoy and the Sheraton Royal Hawaiian Hotel (a.k.a., "The Pink Palace) is purely coincidental. Alarming, but coincidental.
Now that I'm settled in my room, and have nothing better to do than to watch over-priced movies on the in-room entertainment system, browse the web, eat junk food, and post my musing on my blog, I find that I am very lonely. I do not envy Glen's being away from David and Elizabeth on most week days. I'm sure he doesn't find it to be a walk in the park, either.
But while I do welcome the quiet, the respite, the intellectual exchanges that I'll be having with colleagues from other institutions, and the ability to sleep undisturbed so as to shake off this lingering cold that I've had, I really miss my tribe. David was wide awake as I left for Ontario Airport at the crack of dark this morning, but Elizabeth was tucked warmly in her cozy bed. I lingered over her for just a few extra seconds as I kissed her very soft cheek and stroked her very soft hair. She was out cold, but the picture of sleepy perfection.
I know for a fact, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the kids are having a high old time with Glen. My husband - my hero - shepherded the troupe through the morning routine with the skill of a seasoned professional; add into the mix the additional stop at the veterinarian's office so that Lager (the Lab) could get his teeth cleaned, and one can surmise that Glen had a very busy morning. Not to worry. He's a champ. His evening report to me was that all went swimmingly, despite the fact that Lager had to have four teeth pulled, further evidence of our negligence in the canine dental department.
Soon after I got off the phone with Glen, I went online to see about changing my flight reservations to get home a few hours earlier. No dice. Not only were the rules and restrictions being recited to me over the phone very difficult to grasp, but I quickly got the point that flight schedule changes will be expensive. Like, upwards of $150. And that's not including checking in any bags (which I did not on this trip).
So, I'll try to savor the atmosphere of St. Petersburg, and maybe even work in a local art attraction or two. A friend of mind informed me that there's a great Salvador Dali museum, and I also noticed that the works of an incredible glass artist, Dale Chihuly, are on display somewhere around here. Moments of art appreciation are hard to come by for me these days. And yet, I'll also be happy to stumble through the front door of our house late Friday night, hug my sweet Glen, and be driven batty by the two very good, very cute, very crazy kids that I was lucky enough to have assigned to me. Hopefully Lager and Spike will offer me a tail wag or two.
No comments:
Post a Comment